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Sunday 1st March Rumours


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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/7917311.stm

 

Newcastle midfielder Nicky Butt believes Michael Owen will stay at Newcastle, even though the striker's contract expires in the summer. "He's happy here, fully committed to Newcastle, and I think there could be a bit of a shock in that maybe he might stay," he says. (Various)

 

Newcastle are planning a move for former Celtic striker Henrik Larsson who is currently a free agent. (News of the World)

 

Carlos Kameni is a target for Tottenham, Fulham and Newcastle after the 25-year-old Cameroon goalkeeper rejected a new deal to stay at Espanyol. (The People)

 

Newcastle are set to offer manager Joe Kinnear a new two-year deal at St James' Park. (Various)

 

Dennis Wise is ready to call time on his troubled reign as Newcastle executive director by quitting the club in the summer. (Various)

 

Former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd has launched a scathing attack on current owner Mike Ashley, saying he needs to take some blame for the club's current financial situation and that he should stop "acting like a cry baby". (Sunday Mirror)

 

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/7917311.stm

 

Newcastle midfielder Nicky Butt believes Michael Owen will stay at Newcastle, even though the striker's contract expires in the summer. "He's happy here, fully committed to Newcastle, and I think there could be a bit of a shock in that maybe he might stay," he says. (Various)

 

Newcastle are planning a move for former Celtic striker Henrik Larsson who is currently a free agent. (News of the World)

 

Carlos Kameni is a target for Tottenham, Fulham and Newcastle after the 25-year-old Cameroon goalkeeper rejected a new deal to stay at Espanyol. (The People)

 

Newcastle are set to offer manager Joe Kinnear a new two-year deal at St James' Park. (Various)

 

Dennis Wise is ready to call time on his troubled reign as Newcastle executive director by quitting the club in the summer. (Various)

 

Former Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd has launched a scathing attack on current owner Mike Ashley, saying he needs to take some blame for the club's current financial situation and that he should stop "acting like a cry baby". (Sunday Mirror)

 

 

:lol:

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Mike Ashley is to blame for Newcastle crisis, not me, blasts Freddy Shepherd

 

By Brian Mcnally, sundaymirror.co.uk 1/03/2009

 

Michael Owen's £16million move from Real Madrid in 2005 is being used as a smokescreen to disguise Newcastle's crippling financial problems of 2009.

 

Former chairman Freddy Shepherd has accused Toon owner Mike Ashley and his board of trying to hijack the up-front funding of the club record Owen deal to deflect from their own financial inadequacies.

 

And Shepherd has blasted Ashley's net investment over four transfer windows as "a joke".

 

In a blistering broadside Shepherd has warned billionaire Ashley to "stop making excuses and blaming everyone but himself" and remember his own words to his unhappy Sports Direct investors about "acting like cry-babies".

 

Ashley's first balance sheet since his Toon takeover shows the Magpies parent company making a massive loss of £34m on 2007-08 and more than doubling the club's net liabilities to nearly £36m. The Magpies now owe Ashley, who paid £134m for the club in 2007, a staggering £248m.

 

Shepherd has taken off the gloves after Magpies managing director Derek Llambias described as "crazy" Newcastle's decision to pay for the Owen deal with sponsors' cash.

 

Shepherd said: "Newcastle bought England's top striker without borrowing from the bank or being landed with any interest charges. The fact we paid up front was the factor that allowed us to win the Owen race.

 

"It was a gilt-edged deal from a financial perspective, even if the injuries that have blighted Owen's time at Newcastle meant it didn't quite work out on the football front.

 

"The fee for a world class star like Owen was £4m a year over the period of his deal and with turnover in the £90millions it equated to less than four per cent of turnover.

 

"I think fans will question how such a miniscule proportion of turnover could spark a cash crisis in 2009.

 

"They are trying to camouflage the problems they have created and distance blame from themselves with a pathetic PR campaign.

 

"When we broke the world transfer record for Alan Shearer in 1996 the fee was £15m. We borrowed at high interest rates when turnover was much less so it was a far costlier and riskier deal in real terms than Owen's.

 

"I make absolutely no apologies for trying to bring the best to Newcastle. Shearer worked brilliantly, Owen didn't - but that is how football works.

 

"I'd challenge any one to compare the cash I backed managers with to the break-even transfer policy that now appears to be in place."

 

Shepherd believes many of Ashley's decisions have heightened the club's cash problems. He added: "He sacked Sam Allardyce, that cost £4.6m. They failed to back Kevin Keegan above and that's brought a legal claim for a reported £8m.

 

"They have lost the fans which has sent gates down to below 48,000 and cost revenue.

 

They've sold nearly £50m of talent they inherited and lost top players such as Shay Given, James Milner and Scott Parker.

 

"This comes at a time when the net spend on players is virtually invisible. The financial performance of the club is as worrying as what is happening on the field. My salary was criticised but it never matched the £1.35m it cost to bring Chris Mort in as chairman.

 

"Ashley's Sports Direct company advertising is plastered all over the stadium and the club publications but the accounts show that just £42,250 was paid to Newcastle.

 

"And what sort of business sells Shay Given to the world's so-called richest club, Man City, and has to to wait until the summer to be paid?

 

"When blame is being dished out for the present predicament I don't think too many people will be fooled by the excuses coming from the people who have been in charge for two seasons.

 

"I have been attacked for everything from the fact that Ashley failed to exercise due diligence to that I set up a deal to sign a world-class star without borrowing to do it.

 

"I wouldn't buy a secondhand car without checking it was road-worthy and whether there were any HP deals on it, so I don't see how it can be anyone's fault but his that he didn't look at the books before forking out £134m for a football club."

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"I think fans will question how such a miniscule proportion of turnover could spark a cash crisis in 2009.

 

 

That sums up the contempt Shepherd has for our intelligence.

 

It's like Fred Goodwin asking how making one takeover deal in 2007 could have caused the RBS debt of 2008.

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Mike Ashley is to blame for Newcastle crisis, not me, blasts Freddy Shepherd

 

By Brian Mcnally, sundaymirror.co.uk 1/03/2009

 

Michael Owen's £16million move from Real Madrid in 2005 is being used as a smokescreen to disguise Newcastle's crippling financial problems of 2009.

"The fee for a world class star like Owen was £4m a year over the period of his deal and with turnover in the £90millions it equated to less than four per cent of turnover.

 

"I think fans will question how such a miniscule proportion of turnover could spark a cash crisis in 2009.

 

"They are trying to camouflage the problems they have created and distance blame from themselves with a pathetic PR campaign.

 

"When we broke the world transfer record for Alan Shearer in 1996 the fee was £15m. We borrowed at high interest rates when turnover was much less so it was a far costlier and riskier deal in real terms than Owen's.

 

"I make absolutely no apologies for trying to bring the best to Newcastle. Shearer worked brilliantly, Owen didn't - but that is how football works.

 

Hows that less than 4%?

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Guest The Libertine

no mention of the many other shit overpriced players he bought or very crap managers he appointed then paid off.

 

its like he ate all the food at the restaurant then fucked off before he had to pay the bill.

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no mention of the many other s*** overpriced players he bought or very crap managers he appointed then paid off.

 

its like he ate all the food at the restaurant then f***ed off before he had to pay the bill.

 

What an utterly, utterly ridiculous comparison.. You're showing yourself up a little bit there Lib.

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Guest The Libertine

no mention of the many other s*** overpriced players he bought or very crap managers he appointed then paid off.

 

its like he ate all the food at the restaurant then f***ed off before he had to pay the bill.

 

What an utterly, utterly ridiculous comparison.. You're showing yourself up a little bit there Lib.

 

what part? the food bit? that was a joke.

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no mention of the many other s*** overpriced players he bought or very crap managers he appointed then paid off.

 

its like he ate all the food at the restaurant then f***ed off before he had to pay the bill.

 

What an utterly, utterly ridiculous comparison.. You're showing yourself up a little bit there Lib.

 

what part? the food bit? that was a joke.

 

You'd be better off not trying that again..

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Hmmmm......Imo, Shepherd makes a couple of valid points. BUT, he's not revealing a fraction of the bullshit he but us through. In fairness to Ashley at least he knows what the phrase 'value for money' means, something Shepherd had clearly never heard of.

 

I agree that Ashley and co. are blaming the previous regime too much- just get on with the job for christ sake and maybe then you might get somewhere.

 

But at least Ashley has put HIS own money into NUFC.....something Shepherd never did. All he did was take OUR money out of the club and into his bank account.

 

Another good point FFS makes about the Ashley regime is their highly incompetent negotiation skills. They really are very poor. As he said, what sort of club asks the richest club n the world for instalments?!! Crazy. And the way our club refused to play hardball with City over Given's transfer is infuriating.

BUT, Shepherd cant speak. Look at the way he handled the Boumsong and Luque transfers, and even the Owen one (we could've gotten him for a cheaper price, imo). He just threw money at them willy nilly. And the way Shepherd handled agents is shocking. A farce. The likes of Carr, Babayaro, Kluivert, Duff......they were all on over 50k a week! A WEEK!

 

So really you have two extremes here. One chairman would break the world bank in a day, where you have the other one who would struggle to buy penny sweets.

 

Their both as bad as eachother (maybe Shepherd a tad worse but its pretty close)

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Guest The Libertine

no mention of the many other s*** overpriced players he bought or very crap managers he appointed then paid off.

 

its like he ate all the food at the restaurant then f***ed off before he had to pay the bill.

 

What an utterly, utterly ridiculous comparison.. You're showing yourself up a little bit there Lib.

 

what part? the food bit? that was a joke.

 

You'd be better off not trying that again..

 

:frantic:

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Hows that less than 4%?

 

It's also transfer fee alone and is forgetting that he earns more than that in wages every year.  On top of the fee he earns between £5.2 million and £5.7 million which takes the cost of Owen to over 10% of our turnover.

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I'll be so annoyed if we waste a load of money on a keeper.

 

Keeper is still our strongest position and looks like being so for years to come, another Keeper would just put our promising kids further down the pecking order and prevent them from gaining experience.

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"I think fans will question how such a miniscule proportion of turnover could spark a cash crisis in 2009.

 

 

That sums up the contempt Shepherd has for our intelligence.

 

 

 

well founded in some cases, it would seem.

 

Of course, their successors are treating us all with the greatest respect, and the club is in far safer hands.

 

 

 

 

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Hmmmm......Imo, Shepherd makes a couple of valid points. BUT, he's not revealing a fraction of the bullshit he but us through. In fairness to Ashley at least he knows what the phrase 'value for money' means, something Shepherd had clearly never heard of.

 

I agree that Ashley and co. are blaming the previous regime too much- just get on with the job for christ sake and maybe then you might get somewhere.

 

But at least Ashley has put HIS own money into NUFC.....something Shepherd never did. All he did was take OUR money out of the club and into his bank account.

 

Another good point FFS makes about the Ashley regime is their highly incompetent negotiation skills. They really are very poor. As he said, what sort of club asks the richest club n the world for instalments?!! Crazy. And the way our club refused to play hardball with City over Given's transfer is infuriating.

BUT, Shepherd cant speak. Look at the way he handled the Boumsong and Luque transfers, and even the Owen one (we could've gotten him for a cheaper price, imo). He just threw money at them willy nilly. And the way Shepherd handled agents is shocking. A farce. The likes of Carr, Babayaro, Kluivert, Duff......they were all on over 50k a week! A WEEK!

 

So really you have two extremes here. One chairman would break the world bank in a day, where you have the other one who would struggle to buy penny sweets.

 

Their both as bad as eachother (maybe Shepherd a tad worse but its pretty close)

 

Think of a 10 letter word beginning with "R" and ending in "N"

 

 

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"I think fans will question how such a miniscule proportion of turnover could spark a cash crisis in 2009.

 

 

That sums up the contempt Shepherd has for our intelligence.

 

 

 

well founded in some cases, it would seem.

 

Of course, their successors are treating us all with the greatest respect, and the club is in far safer hands.

 

 

Still can't see that saying a bad thing about the old board doesn't mean you fully support the new one I see.

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Guest The Libertine
Another good point FFS makes about the Ashley regime is their highly incompetent negotiation skills. They really are very poor.

 

must i list all the good/great deals we've done to disprove this point?

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Guest SpinTheBlackCircle

"And what sort of business sells Shay Given to the world's so-called richest club, Man City, and has to to wait until the summer to be paid?

 

 

Spot On

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no mention of the many other s*** overpriced players he bought or very crap managers he appointed then paid off.

 

its like he ate all the food at the restaurant then f***ed off before he had to pay the bill.

 

What an utterly, utterly ridiculous comparison.. You're showing yourself up a little bit there Lib.

 

what part? the food bit? that was a joke.

 

You'd be better off not trying that again..

 

:frantic:

 

Aha, just noticed that could have been interpreted as a threath, which it wasn't meant to be.. I just meant you aren't a very good comedian.. Sorry Lib..

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Another good point FFS makes about the Ashley regime is their highly incompetent negotiation skills. They really are very poor.

 

must i list all the good/great deals we've done to disprove this point?

 

Yes please.

 

Don't forget to mention the negotiations where we screwed up badly and ended up not getting the players we desperately needed to strengthen the squad..

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"Ashley's Sports Direct company advertising is plastered all over the stadium and the club publications but the accounts show that just £42,250 was paid to Newcastle.

Undercutting us seriously there

 

"And what sort of business sells Shay Given to the world's so-called richest club, Man City, and has to to wait until the summer to be paid?

 

Hard to disagree with that.

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"Ashley's Sports Direct company advertising is plastered all over the stadium and the club publications but the accounts show that just £42,250 was paid to Newcastle.

Undercutting us seriously there

 

More interestingly, it's a point that none of our so called accountants has spotted. If we were to rent out this advertisement space commercially surely that would bring in a tidy sum.. Wonder whether we will get Sports Direct as our shirt sponsors next season and what those worried about our finances will have to say about that if indeed it happens.

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Guest The Libertine

Another good point FFS makes about the Ashley regime is their highly incompetent negotiation skills. They really are very poor.

 

must i list all the good/great deals we've done to disprove this point?

 

Yes please.

 

Don't forget to mention the negotiations where we screwed up badly and ended up not getting the players we desperately needed to strengthen the squad..

 

milner - 12

dyer - 6 or 7

parker - 7

luque - anything

rozenhal - 3

emre - 4

faye - 2.25

n'zog - 6

 

all good/great deals imo as the players either wanted out or were not good enough. i cant say much about the "incoming" deals as i dont know enough about why each failed deal wasnt completed but im happy enough with the players we did buy so far (xisco tbc).

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"Ashley's Sports Direct company advertising is plastered all over the stadium and the club publications but the accounts show that just £42,250 was paid to Newcastle.

Undercutting us seriously there

 

More interestingly, it's a point that none of our so called accountants has spotted. If we were to rent out this advertisement space commercially surely that would bring in a tidy sum.. Wonder whether we will get Sports Direct as our shirt sponsors next season and what those worried about our finances will have to say about that if indeed it happens.

 

Shirt sales will fall if we get Sports Direct as our sponsors I'd imagine.

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